San Diego FBI Special Agent in Charge Keith Slotter announces the arrest of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Marcos Gerardo Manzano, Jr., age 26, and Jose Alfredo Garrido-Morena, age 26, as a result of an investigation conducted by the Border Corruption Task Force.

Gerardo Manzano Jr. was arrested on Monday, January 10, 2011, at approximately 11:45 p.m. at the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station, 1802 Saturn Blvd., San Diego, California. Manzano, Jr. is employed as a United States Border Patrol Agent. Manzano, Jr. was arrested pursuant to a federal arrest warrant charging Manzano, Jr. with harboring illegal aliens and making a false statement.

Jose Alfredo Garrido-Morena, was arrested by members of an FBI SWAT team on Tuesday, January 11, 2011, shortly after 6:00 a.m. Garrido-Morena was arrested in the 3600 block of Shooting Star Drive in San Diego, California, after the SWAT team made entry into the residence occupied by Garrido-Morena and others. Garrido-Morena was arrested pursuant to a federal arrest warrant charging Garrido-Morena with being a deported alien with no legal right to enter or remain in the United States. Garrido-Morena is not employed by any U.S. government agency. No injuries were reported as a result of the SWAT entry.

According to a complaint filed in this matter, in the U.S. District Court, Southern District, of California, Marcos Gerardo Manzano, Jr. and his father, Marcos Gerardo Manzano, Sr., are charged with violations of federal immigration laws and making a false statement. Jose Alfredo Garrido-Moreno is charged in a separate complaint with being a deported alien found in the United States.

Marcos Gerardo Manzano, Sr. is currently a fugitive. The Border Corruption Task Force is currently seeking the whereabouts of Manzano, Sr ….

Manzano, Jr. and Garrido have been booked into the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where they will remain pending their initial appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge on Wednesday, January 12, 2011. This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent was arrested just before midnight Monday at work and charged with harboring illegal immigrants — one of whom is his father, a wanted fugitive. Federal agents also swarmed a San Ysidro neighborhood early Tuesday as an FBI SWAT team searched the home of Marcos G. Manzano Jr., the 26-year-old Border Patrol agent, looking for his father, Marco G. Manzano Sr., believed to be in the United States illegally, authorities said.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent was charged Tuesday with harboring his father, a twice-deported illegal immigrant with a criminal record, in his house and then lying about his whereabouts to federal investigators, authorities said. Marcos Gerardo Manzano Jr., 26, allegedly told his father that authorities were looking for him, and let him live at his residence in a working-class neighborhood of San Ysidro. His father, Marcos Gerardo Manzano Sr., 46, was convicted of a marijuana offense in October 2006 and deported to Mexico a few months later, according to the criminal complaint filed in San Diego federal court. Starting in September 2009, Manzano Sr. was seen regularly coming and going from his son’s home, according to the complaint. Last month, Manzano Jr. allegedly told an investigator inquiring about his father’s whereabouts that he had had no contact with him, although he admitted knowing he was a deported felon.

U.S. Border Patrol Agent Marcos Gerardo Manzano Jr., 26 has been arrested yesterday on a federal warrant and charged with harboring illegal aliens and making a false statement, San Diego FBI Special Agent Keith Slotter announced today. Also arrested was Jose Alfredo Garrido-Morena, 26, who is charged with being a deported alien with no legal right to enter or be present in the U.S.

Federal agents found an underground room beneath the backyard patio at the home of a Border Patrol agent charged with harboring illegal immigrants, a federal prosecutor said in court Wednesday. The room was discovered during a raid by a large contingent of federal officials Tuesday at the San Ysidro home of Border Patrol Agent Marcos G. Manzano Jr. … The room at Manzano’s home was accessed by moving a large concrete slab and climbing down a ladder, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath. She said a corridor then led to a room about 7 feet to 8 feet high.

10News learned Garrido-Morena has had previous run-ins with the law. According to court documents obtained by 10News, Garrido was arrested in October 2009 on charges of possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine and for giving false information to a peace officer. The charging document said Garrido-Morena tried to avoid arrest by telling the arresting officer that he was someone else.

Authorities found the hidden room beneath a concrete slab in the backyard patio, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Tara McGrath. A search of the room turned up an illegal immigrant hiding under a table, McGrath said. Agents also found 61 grams of methamphetamine, along with drug paraphernalia and narcotics packaging materials in the home, she added.

Marcos Gerardo Manzano Jr., 26, was arrested at the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station after police and FBI agents staged an early morning raid at his home in San Ysidro and arrested Jose Alfredo Garrido-Morena, a suspected undocumented immigrant, NBC San Diego reported. According to court documents, Garrido-Morena, 26, had been living at Manzano’s house since November — along with Manzano’s 46-year-old pop, Marcos Gerardo Manzo Sr., who is wanted by the feds.

Investigators who searched the Imperial Beach home of a U.S. Border Patrol agent said they found an undocumented man in a hidden room along with evidence of drug dealing. According to the FBI, Marcos Gerardo Manzano Jr., 26, was arrested Monday at the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station and stands accused of harboring illegal immigrants, including his father.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath told Magistrate Judge Louisa Porter today that agents serving a search warrant at the home found 61 grams of methamphetamine and paraphernalia to package and distribute the drug. Garrido-Morena was found in an underground room that had been dug in the backyard, the prosecutor said. The bunker — about 7 to 8 feet high — was covered by a concrete slab and was accessible by a wooden ladder, McGrath said.

McGrath said Manzano Jr. is a U.S. citizen and had been a Border Patrol agent since 2007. Separately, the prosecutor said a misdemeanor DUI conviction was not reported to his boss.

In addition to purportedly harboring undocumented immigrants, Manzano Jr. allegedly lied to a fellow Border Patrol agent when asked while on duty if he knew the whereabouts of his father, who was convicted four years ago in a U.S. court of possessing marijuana for sale and was twice deported to his home country of Mexico.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent in San Diego hid his father, a twice-deported illegal immigrant, in his house and lied about it, authorities allege … When an FBI Swat team raided his home in the border neighborhood of San Ysidro Tuesday, his father, Marcos Gerardo Manzano Sr., 46, was gone. Another illegal immigrant there was arrested … Starting in September 2009, Manzano Sr. was seen regularly coming and going from his son’s home, the complaint said. Manzano Jr. allegedly told a federal investigator he had had no contact with his father, although he admitted knowing he was a deported felon.

A family member told News 8 the room was built about six months ago as a shelter and storage area for construction materials. The family member, who did not want to be identified, said the underground room was never used for illegal purposes. [Assistant U.S. Attorney Tara] McGrath said Manzano Jr. is a U.S. citizen and had been a Border Patrol agent since 2007. Separately, the prosecutor said a misdemeanor DUI conviction was not reported to his boss. Defense attorney Frank Ragen said Manzano Jr. moved out of the Shooting Star home when his parents divorced, but recently moved back in. But McGrath said Manzano Jr. — the owner of the property — had been there as far back as September 2009.

On Monday, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Marcos Gerardo Manzano Jr., 26, was arrested at the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station. His home in San Ysidro, California was also raided and federal agents took one illegal alien into custody.

[U.S. Attorney Tara] McGrath said Manzano Jr. has ties to Mexico, where his girlfriend lives, and crosses the border frequently. McGrath added that he had previously been arrested for driving drunk, but never reported it to the Border Patrol Agency.

U.S. Border Patrol Agent Marcos Gerardo Manzano Jr. zipped around the hills along the San Diego-Tijuana border pursuing illegal immigrants every day. But his hunt didn’t extend, authorities allege, to the illegal immigrant living in his own home — his father.

Manzano’s father, Marcos Gerardo Manzano Sr., was known as a Mr. Fix-it in his working-class San Diego neighborhood, who did painting and landscaping jobs for a few bucks. But authorities say Manzano Sr., 46, is a twice-deported illegal immigrant with a criminal record who may have been dealing drugs … Manzano became a U.S. Border Patrol agent in 2007 and was assigned to patrol along the border fence near Imperial Beach. Within two years, authorities allege, he was allowing his father to live in his cluttered home, in a neighborhood a few blocks from the Chula Vista border patrol station. Manzano Sr. had been arrested in 2008 for possession of marijuana for sale and was deported the next year. He had also been deported in 2007. Authorities, who had the home under surveillance since September 2009, suspect the house was a center for drug distribution and possibly immigrant smuggling … In the mostly Latino neighborhood where most people speak Spanish, the immigration status of the elder Manzano wasn’t an issue. Neighbor Rick Bush, 56, said the father helped him build a tree house in his backyard for $100, and said he seemed like “good people.”

San Diego FBI Special Agent in Charge Keith Slotter announces the arrest of Marcos Gerardo Manzano Sr., age 46, on Sunday, January 23, 2011.

Marcos Gerardo Manzano Sr. was taken into custody at approximately 11:00 a.m. after he self-surrendered to agents assigned to the Border Corruption Task Force (BCTF). Manzano Sr. was arrested in the vicinity of the Chula Vista Border Patrol Station, 311 Athey Avenue, San Ysidro, California, without incident.

According to a complaint filed in this matter, in the U.S. District Court, Southern District, of California, Marcos Gerardo Manzano Jr., and his father Marcos Gerardo Manzano Sr., are charged with violations of federal immigration laws. Manzano Jr. is also charged with making a false statement.

Manzano Sr. is currently being held at the Chula Vista jail. Manzano Sr. is expected to appear before a U.S. Magistrate Judge, on Tuesday, January 25, 2011.

A fugitive Mexican national whose son, a U.S. Border Patrol agent, allegedly harbored him illegally in a San Ysidro home for months was arrested over the weekend, authorities reported Monday. Marcos Gerardo Manzano Sr., 46, surrendered to agents with the Border Corruption Task Force near the Chula Vista Border Patrol Station about 11 a.m. Sunday, according to the FBI.

The FBI says the wanted deportee father of a U.S. Border Patrol agent charged with harboring illegal immigrants has turned himself in to federal authorities in San Diego. FBI Special Agent Darrell Foxworth tells the San Diego Union-Tribune in a story Monday that Marcos Manzano Sr. was taken into custody Sunday after surrendering near the Border Patrol station in San Ysidro.

The father of a local border patrol agent wanted for being in the country illegally turned himself in to the FBI Sunday, according to family members … Family members contacted News 8 over the weekend to report Manzano, Sr. surrendered to agents at the nearby Vista Terrace Park at 11 a.m. Sunday. Elizabeth Wieland, the common law wife of the senior Manzano, said her husband was in the country illegally because he feared for his life in Tijuana. “He’s not a bad person. He’s never done a violent thing in his life,” Wieland said. Wieland claims the border patrol agent’s father used to live in Tijuana but had to leave in a hurry after his brother was involved in an argument that turned deadly.

A fugitive Mexican national whose son, a U.S. Border Patrol agent, allegedly harbored him illegally in his San Ysidro home for months, turned himself in Sunday. Marcos Gerardo Manzano Sr., 46, surrendered at a Chula Vista Border Patrol Station Sund around 11 a.m., according to the FBI.

[Marcos] Manzano’s case was the latest in a string of approximately 123 arrests of federal law enforcement members on corruption charges nationally since 2004. He has pleaded not guilty and was suspended indefinitely from the Border Patrol. His arrest has highlighted concerns from inside and outside the agency first made five years ago, after the Border Patrol went on a massive hiring surge that added 6,000 agents to the force in a two-year period. Critics, including the union representing agents, warned then that the agency was moving too fast, shortcutting background checks, lowering hiring standards and truncating the training time at the Border Patrol Academy in New Mexico. They warned one unintended consequence could be more cases of misconduct and corruption.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent pleaded guilty Friday to hiding an illegal immigrant — his father— in his south San Diego home, which had a hidden, underground room beneath the backyard patio. Marcos Manzano Jr. entered the plea during a brief court hearing in front of U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller.

According to the San Diego Union Tribune, the former U.S. Border Patrol agent who was arrested in January while working at the Imperial Beach Border Patrol station, pleaded guilty July 15 to harboring his father who had federal warrants and an illegal immigrant in his San Ysidro home.

A 47-year-old man who was in the country illegally and was caught living with his son, a U.S. Border Patrol agent, was sentenced Friday to 6½ years in federal prison. Marcos Manzano Sr. had pleaded guilty in July to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and being in the country illegally after previously being deported.

A former U.S. Border Patrol agent who hid his illegal-immigrant and drug-selling father at his home in San Ysidro was sentenced Friday to six months in a halfway house … Besides 180 days in a community confinement center, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller sentenced the defendant to credit for time already served in federal custody and placed Manzano Jr. on two years of supervised release.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent in San Diego was sentenced on Friday for harboring his illegal immigrant father who was later convicted on narcotics charges … a federal judge told Marcos Manzano Jr. he should have known about the backyard bunker in which authorities found his dad hiding.

A US Border Patrol Agent guilty of housing his undocumented father was given just two years of supervised release, a judge announced Friday. Marcos Manzano Jr. will also spend six months in a halfway house for violating federal immigration laws, the judge ruled.